Care nurse accused of
‘punching’

A WIGAN care home nurse thumped an 85-year-old dementia sufferer, after the confused patient ‘nipped’ at her hands, a hearing was told.

Biby Jose, 33, was lifting the woman from her wheelchair to her bed at the 50-bed Deanwood Manor Care Home, in Orrell, when she allegedly punched the resident with a ‘clenched’ fist.

The following morning, a care assistant discovered a bruise on the pensioner’s arm in the area where Jose is accused of hitting her, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.

Jose is also charged with using an ‘inappropriate’ technique to lift the pensioner, known as ‘Resident A,’ from her wheelchair at around 11.30pm during the night shift on September 21, 2008.

The panel heard that because of her dementia, Resident A ‘could be aggressive’ towards staff at the home.

On the night in question, Jose had been the only qualified nurse on duty at the privately-run home, which is owned by Nottingham-based Mimosa Healthcare Holdings Ltd.

Care assistant Lisa Wilson, who at the time of the incident had worked at the home for only three weeks, told the hearing she witnessed the assault.

She said: “I was asked to help Ms Jose put Resident A to bed.

“We took her under the arms and lifted her up. I just went along with the way people had been shown in the home at the time.

“As we were lifting her, I heard Ms Jose shouting at the resident, and she punched her in the left arm.

“It made a noise like a ‘thud’.”

When interviewed as part of an internal disciplinary inquiry, Jose allegedly admitted to not knowing how Resident A’s care plan stipulated she should be lifted.

But she again denied punching the woman, and said ‘other people at the home’ also used an incorrect lifting technique.

Jose had worked at the home since 2004 – the year she first registered as a nurse in the UK.

Luke Clancy, for the NMC, said: “On September 21, Ms Wilson and the registrant put Resident A to bed. However, rather than assisting her to bed her own way, she used an inappropriate lifting technique, by lifting her to the bed by gripping her under her arms.

“As she was being put to bed, she nipped at her [Jose’s] hands and then Ms Wilson saw the registrant strike Resident A with a clenched fist on her left arm.”

Jose, who now lives in Essex, admits using an ‘inappropriate’ technique to lift Resident A but denies punching her and that her fitness to practise is impaired.